Lexdray accessories include durable materials and innovative design concepts that enhance the user experience. The company is simply built off function, style, quality and innovation, with each Lexdray piece is built for modern life, wherever that may take you. Lexdray’s debut collection has recently been released and comes inspired by concepts of utility and exploration with products featuring tactical secret pockets, concealed details and functional usage. We recently caught up with Alex Drayer, the man behind the label, to talk about his brand and what all the recent hype behind it is about.

Hit the flip to read the interview.

Culture Shoq: Who are you? Introduce yourself and give us some background information on who you are.

Alex Drayer: I guess to begin with, I’ve lived in several cities, traveled a fair amount and packed a lot of bags in my life. I grew up in North Carolina in the early eighties and I played pretty much every sport, especially basketball. I knew who Michael Jordan was and remember trying to copy his moves on the court when I was just 7 years old. I can’t say I knew what defined street culture at that time, but it was probably a subconscious stepping-stone for me.

Since graduating from the University of Colorado in 1999, I have lived in San Francisco and New York City, both of which have influenced me in a major way. San Francisco feels like a small town when you live there and I used to travel locally most weekends to Tahoe, Sonoma, Monterey, etc. and this is where I first started really adding to my collection of travel bags and the recognition of which features make for the best ones.

I moved to New York in 2004. It’s an inspiring and contagious city where fashion, art and music are at the forefront. From day one I interacted with multi-talented people from all over the world and I was immediately introduced to their cultures and became acutely aware of the way people dress, the foods they eat, the magazines they read, the bags they carry and the languages they speak.

When you are surrounded by incredible fashion, art, graffiti, music, etc., it’s becomes easy to gather motivation and inspiration. This coupled with my love of travel and street culture led to the idea for Lexdray.

CS: Introduce us to the Lexdray brand.

AD: Lexdray is a new brand specializing in travel bags and cases which I officially launched last month, May 2011. My intention is to make extremely functional, well-made products using high quality materials without compromising style. I’ve had a pretty clear vision from day one with Lexdray, that my goal was to blur the line between streetwear and luxury fashion.

CS: What made you want to start up the brand and what are some creative features in the bags?

AD: Like most people, I have always envisioned owning my own company or starting my own business. It’s a tough thing to do though and there’s never an ideal time to make it happen. So starting Lexdray gave me a creative outlet and the opportunity to potentially be involved in both fashion and street culture, two things I’ve always followed with great admiration.

My goal is to make each Lexdray bag identifiable in a very precise yet simple way. Each style is purposely understated on the exterior with minimal branding. The collection was designed with absolute function in mind, from the lightweight durable fabrics and hardware to the fleece lined laptop compartments.

CS: Talk to us about the Japanese craftsmanship and fabrics used on your accessories.

AD: Japan is known for their fine workmanship, artistry and craft-making techniques. When I think of Japanese craftsmanship I think of designs that are very simple but extremely well-made with a recognizable attention to detail where nothing has been overlooked. I put considerable time and effort into perfecting each Lexdray piece and my goal is for Lexdray to be viewed in a similar way.

The fabrics I used for the Classified Collection were chosen with function, style and quality in mind with our main body material a durable 1680 denier nylon with a PU backing. Denier is a unit of weight by which fineness of the nylon is measured and most bags you see today use lower numbered denier nylon and the quality or lack of quality can be obvious. I also chose to use a fair amount of neoprene which allows for both stretch and padding and the neoprene I chose utilizes a Lycra coating versus a more common jersey coating. Functionality for each of these is similar, but I preferred the look of the Lycra. One other material which is heavily utilized in the collection is a split PU coated cowhide leather. Split PU is a split leather with a layer of polyurethane applied, which results in an appealing looking fabric that is more water-resistant and easier to clean and maintain.

CS: What goes into designing a bag? How does it go from sketches on a piece a paper to the shops?

AD: In short, the design process that my artist and I go through when designing a bag is quite tedious. We start with a series of sketches and take those sketches to an Illustrator file, sometimes showing up to 20 views of a given bag. I then spend weeks finalizing each tech pack complete with fabrics, measurements and extensive notes and from there I go through a number of sampling rounds with my factory and multiple revised tech packs where I finally wind up with a finished product months later.

CS: Talk about the all new Classified Collection from Lexdray.

AD: If you’ve seen a bag from the collection first hand, you’ll notice what I call the Lexdray flag label, it’s a 4-color label found on all Lexdray styles with each color chosen to represent our four principles: Function, Style, Quality, Innovation. Each of these principles is outlined in more depth on our website, but I chose each one based on how I wanted the brand to be acknowledged as well as somewhat of a checklist to go through prior to putting out a new product.

CS: Of the collection do you have any personal favorites from the six styles out?

AD: Honestly, I’ve spent significant time using them all and each is unique in its own way. I believe in a bag for every purpose. Your gym bag doesn’t require the same features as your weekend bag, and your everyday messenger bag should function differently from a duffel. I am constantly studying bags, how people carry them and why, in an effort to enhance user experience with Lexdray designed products.

CS: Explain to us the significance of the all black designs and the limited production of 550 pieces per style.

AD: Black was chosen for its simple, modern and classic appeal and we will integrate new tonal colorways next year, likely starting with khaki and olive. The limiting production on a certain color or style gives people a sense of exclusivity, which is something that has always been important to me. By offering only 550 of each bag in all-black, likelihood is that if you walk down a busy street in NYC or Tokyo you are unlikely to see someone else carrying the same one. If you do however see someone, you’ll have an immediate connection and something to talk about.

CS: What can we expect later in 2011 and upcoming for 2012?

AD: I am working on a number of things right now. New colorways, new styles and new inserts for the current Classified Collection pieces. You can see more bags that will become available next year on our website, but also look out for some camera and hiking related styles as well as a few collaboration pieces.

CS: Will Lexdray be branching out from bags to other accessories?

AD: We will definitely have laptop cases and wallets available next year. We want to first establish ourselves as a bag brand, but my hope is to offer outerwear, shoes and additional fashion related items. My wife, who is also a designer and travel guru, has been pushing for a women’s line as well.

CS: Last words?

AD: I’m just happy the collection has gotten a positive response so far. I’m gonna keep putting out functional, quality products and look forward to where the brand is headed.

Sperry’s history takes us back to 1935, which makes them the true original creators of the boat shoe. The Authentic Original boat shoe by Sperry was first created with a few pieces of rubber, a razor blade, and an ordinary sneaker. Together, Paul Sperry created the world’s first and most enduring boat shoe. Their originality is still seen today upon the feet of millions of people worldwide and today marks the emergence of their new fall 2010 collection. The first shoe presented from the collection is the Authentic Original 2- Eye Boat Shoe.

Sperry Topsider’s Authentic Original 2-Eye Boat Shoe is bestowed in the brand’s fall collection, which ensures that Sperry is sticking to their roots. The all suede boat shoe is hand-sewn and is offered in nine colorways; Spice (orange), Dark Brown, Tan, Dark Green, Mustard, Black, White, Grey, and Blue. The added rubber outsole with razor-cut wave-siping grip helps establish maximum traction and flexibility for this upcoming season. The all suede boat shoe will make it’s debut this fall season at select stocklists as well as at David Z which will be stocking the brown, grey, and tan colorways in the coming weeks.

David Z (flagship store)556 Broadway (between Prince and Spring)
New York, NY 10012-3912
Or phone order at 212-431-5450

This small rugged bag is ideal for those cold weather overnight and day trips. Its super heavy duty exterior is constructed of 20 oz. sage American waxed cotton with a dark brown leather bottom and durable black nylon handles.The bag sports 6 small exterior pockets and a heavy double pull brass zipper for securing all your belongings.

The waxed exterior of this bag will change and finely age over time, developing a unique look that will last for years. Now available for $130USD on their online store.

Social media networking site are fast becoming quite popular among so many people, and the workplaces have also not been left out. Social sites such as facebook have become the latest trend in the workplace. It is taking these places by storm and this has really impacted largely on the overall productivity of the workers. The following are enough reasons why you should block facebook in the workplace

Workers Productivity

This, for sure, is one of the key problems that facebook has brought to quite a number of organizations and businesses; facebook has contributed significantly to workers performing poorly. According to recent research, an employee who uses facebook while working loses around 2% productivity. This is because, with an array of applications and status updates, any employees may find themselves constantly checking their facebook accounts through out the day instead of doing other productive activities.

Business Images and Confidentiality

By allowing your employees to get access to social media sites, your business or organization will certainly stand a good chance of facing possible breaches in confidentiality, as well as, tarnished images. It is quite obvious employees will be tempted to post recent activities that are going on within the company such as, business information and promotion that the business is not actually prepared to give to the pubic. Secondly, your employees will share information through facebook and this information may end up in the wrong person thus resulting in the information leaking. Additionally, some workers may not be happy with the way the business is being run and may be forced to post some negative posts about the company on facebook; this may impact on the overall image of the company.

Employee Relation

Social media sites such as facebook can also affect employee relation within the business. This is because workers may harass each other by posting negative things about one another, and this will actually affect the working relationship within the workplace. Additionally, facebook may provide a perfect platform for employees to communicate with one another through out the day without any other person hearing; this for sure will result in off-task conversations.

All in all, has a lot been said about negative impacts of facebook in the workplace, if you also allow your employees to use it for business related activities such as advertising, it can bring immense benefits to the business in the long. However, you really have to block facebook in the workplace; its disadvantages certainly outdo the benefits.

When it comes to property acquisition, you usually have to move quickly in order to get the property that you want. There is not that much time between finding it and buying it, especially if it is a great deal and you know it. You are not going to be the only person who is interested. If you cannot get a loan for a month or two – which is sometimes how long it takes for lenders to approve you – someone else is going to come in with cash and buy the place out from under you. How should you keep this from happening? One option is to consider using bridge loans to get it more quickly.

The beauty of bridge loans is that you really do not need much time to get them. There is a minimal amount of paperwork that goes into the process, especially when compared to the hundreds of pages that a mortgage lender may use. Everything is set up to be as smooth and seamless as possible. Speed is emphasized over everything else. These loans may have higher interest rates because of their high risk, but this is not a big deal because you will pay them back so quickly anyway. The value of getting the loan right away, and therefore getting the property that you want, outweighs the risk or the high rates.

You may only need bridge loans for a few weeks. You can use them to purchase the property and then pay them back right away when your full loan goes through. This loan will buy you the time to wait for that long-term financing. You no longer have to stress about how long it is taking because you will already have that terrific property that you did not want to miss.

Looking and feeling great are two things that many people want. Perhaps it is inevitable for people to admire beauty which is why there are many beauty products in the market. One of the things that many are after is to have soft, smooth skin. A good way to have suave skin is to scrub at least once a week however some scrubs in the market are filled with chemicals and are expensive.

What most do not know is that there are natural alternatives to expensive scrubs in the market. There are some scrubs that are effective and safe but are not over-priced. For instance, if you will look into the regimens of ancient people, you might be surprised that they actually use sugar to remove skin impurities. Yes, sugar is a good alternative to most scrubs in the market that are full of chemicals and artificial fragrances. Here are a few reasons why using sugar skin scrub is better than most skin exfoliating products in the market today.

Sugar is Natural

Sugar comes from sugar canes and can be used as a scrub without causing allergies like other products sold in the market. It naturally makes the skin smooth by exfoliating the surface gently. According to http://juniperdesert.com/beauty/olive-oil-for-sexy-skin sugar does not dehydrate the skin like many scrubs do and it has been proven safe and effective.

Sugar and Olive Oil

If you want to moisturize your skin, you can mix sugar with olive oil and rub it into your skin before taking a bath. You can leave the mix into your skin for about 3 minutes and then rinse. You can then use your favorite soap and after you have rinsed the soap off your skin, you can feel the smoothness in your skin plus the softness due to the moisturizing elements from olive oil.